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KZN Health MEC out on bail
The KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC Neliswa "Peggy" Nkonyeni and two others were charged by the Scorpions in the Pietermaritzburg Regional Court in connection with her department's controversial procurement of a mammogram machine.
It is alleged that the MEC and other senior members of the Health Department had unlawfully influenced decisions related to the procurement of goods and/or services. It is also alleged that Nkonyeni was intimately involved with the owner of a private investment company that had won the R1, 5 million deals from the department.
It is alleged that the company charged the Health Department R1,5 million for the mammogram machine, which could have been obtained for R425 000.
KZN Department of Health Spokesperson Leon Mbangwa said that the Department of Health in Kwa-Zulu Natal is very perplexed by the move of the Scorpions to charge MEC Nkonyeni
on the issue that they believe is purely an administration matter. "The MEC as a political head of the department has nothing to do with administration issues and she does not issue order numbers. She cannot even adjudicate any tender. Only the accounting officer delegates the responsible officials. We are dismayed by this action because there was no transaction or payment made. We are dismayed that the Scorpions have been sitting with this information for months and they only act now. We strongly believe that this is a political ploy. We are saddened, as civil servants that our population can be confused by our own law enforcement agency in this fashion," said Mbangwa.
The former head of the department, Busi Nyembezi, had signed a motivation for the procurement of the scanner for R425 000 from Medhold, another company.
Despite the fact that the Department of Health was in possession of the favorable quotation from Medhold, the sole authorised supplier of the Logiq E mammography machine, members of the procurement section were instructed to order the machine from the investment company for an amount of R1,5 million.
The manager of the supply chain division of the department, who allegedly voiced her concerns about the inflated cost of the scanner and the absence of a written quotation from the Investment Company, was suspended on November 5 2007.
The Department of Health is in turmoil after a R2-billion budget overrun. Earlier this year, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) confirmed it had launched a probe into the department. It also said it found and seized a missing mammogram machine in the office of former HOD Busi Nyembezi. The mammography machine is used to x-ray breast tissue, using small amounts of radiation.
A skilled technologist positions and compresses the breast between two plates. Then a highly specialized camera takes two pictures of each breast from two directions. Mildly uncomfortable for most women, mammography can be painful for some.
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